Looks like the combo works well for you and the Sigma 50-500 produced sharp shots.

Did you have your iso set to 320? Thanks for posting them. Will be looking forward to the eagle shots!

Hi upnorth47 and thank you for you comments!

I was happy with the results from the D300. Coming from a D80 for the past six year which I knew well and was comfortable with. The D300 was a bit daunting at first as it has many more shooting settings then the D80, however things have worked out pretty well. I did get the Magic Lantern D300 as part of the deal which was a worthwhile read.

The Sigma 50-500mm OS has been a good buy for me as the range allows me to keep it on the D300 most of the time and shooting at f7.1-f8 gives results that are acceptable to me.

I did have the iso set at 320 which was a suggestion by Ray who also shoots with a D300 (but with a nikkor 200-400mm f4). I wanted to shoot manual as that was what I did mostly with the D80 and 320 allow reasonable good shutter speeds while shooting at f7.1 to f8. Not sure why my SS are showing up the way they are? but most where between 1/400 and 1/800 with some at 1/1000 or faster.

I do hope to get back in the fall and will certainly post if I'm able to.